​Some of your habits in spending could be bad habits that are effecting both your credit card bill and your credit.  Many of these are habits that you can change.  Yahoo Finance just did a look at eleven of the most common ones, and odds are you have at least one of these bad habits.  

Just like any other habits, it's not always easy to make the changes that make a difference for the outcome that you really want.  Even though these are simple changes, to better habits, it will take some "pause" before you act if they are well ingrained habits. 

A couple of examples, are spending just to get the bonus, or the extra that is offered.  Did you really need that extra $100 worth of product to get the free gift?  Might have been cheaper to just buy the reward yourself. 

Or what about those trial subscriptions that you started, did you cancel them? Or are they getting paid each month and you aren't even thinking about them?

And the small print? Have you read it? 

Remember how much of your credit you are using effects your credit score!

See the article titled 11 Bad Habits That Hike Up Your Credit Card Bill by Jordan Rosenfeld it's a quick read, and you may find one or two of your own habits, that it's time to change.  

Link to article:  ​https://finance.yahoo.com/news/11-bad-habits-hike-credit-150012616.html

We are all hearing about the increase in prices on just about everything these days.  USA Today just did an article/video this morning about the increase of federal interest rates (the first in three years) and talks about how another 5-7 are still ahead of us.  

Yes you will be seeing higher rates on mortgages, credit cards and more.  




​You can see the full article and video - ​How Fed's first rate hike in more than 3 years will affect credit card, mortgage, savings rates  

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/03/15/interest-rate-fed-hike-credit-cards-mortgages/7042398001/?gnt-cfr=1

​If you have a low credit score, or no score and a family member or friend with good credit piggy backing may be an option.  In the simplest form it means you "piggyback" on their credit, by becoming an authorized user of their credit, for example a credit card.  

This is often seen as a traditional way to build credit, but there are some things to know.  For example if the credit isn't being reported, it's not helping you.  

If you have a trusted family member or friend, and they trust you too, this can be a great option to help get you started on the right track.  It can take some time for it to show up, and is not an immediate fix.  Also there are things to consider like keeping the debt under that 30% mark of use.  

For a full article looking at how Credit Card Piggybacking works read the following article on TIME, 
Credit Card Piggybacking Can Help You Build Your Credit, But You Need to Be Careful, from their NextAdvisor Partnership.  It's about a 7 minute read and has a lot of details, pros and cons.  

Link to the article: 
https://time.com/nextadvisor/credit-cards/what-is-piggybacking/